


Life In Technicolor

by ToukoTai



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Gen, almost identity porn, can be read kaishin if you want, secret identity success, too much success
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4872853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToukoTai/pseuds/ToukoTai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinichi's figured out that Kid has his own black shadows to deal with, ones that might be related to his. Unfortunately, phantom thieves are notoriously difficult to catch, even for a quick comparing of notes.<br/>There's also the issue of his friend? acquaintance? guy he meets for coffee every other day, reacting oddly whenever Shinichi mentions Kid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Song title comes from [Life in Technicolor by Coldplay](https://youtu.be/fXSovfzyx28?t=30)  
> The college/coffee shop AU that has nothing to do with either of those two things outside of establishing age and setting.  
> Oh and yes, Hakuba and Kaito are friends, I'm bending so many other things, why not that too?

“So what’s got you so down?” Kuroba asked, pen cap tapping against his open notebook.

“Nothing.” Shinichi said, staring down at the newspaper. The front page was the Kid Heist last night. The Heist he’d been at and completely, utterly _failed_ at catching Kid. At even cornering him for a two minute, no, a two _second_ chat.

“Sure, nothing. S’that why you’re trying to set the paper on fire by the power of your eyes alone?” That startled Shinichi enough to look up from the paper and meet Kuroba’s amused smile. The other boy had propped his chin in his hand.

“Right, sorry.” Shinichi coughed awkwardly. “Just feeling a little...stressed.”

“Uh-huuuuh.” Kuroba drawled, smile morphing into a smirk. “So what does the Great Kudo Shinichi, grown up high school detective, stress out about that the numerous dead bodies showing up every day obviously don’t?” Instead of answering, Shinichi’s eyes trailed back down to the newspaper. Kuroba followed his shift in attention. “Ooooh.” He hummed, a teasing lilt to his voice. “Got a thing for thieves, huh?” He sat back, curiosity sated, but smirk not vanishing in the least. In fact, it seemed to have only grown sharper. “I’m sure if you ask nicely he’ll show you a good time.” Shinichi couldn’t help but blush.

“It’s not like that!” He spluttered. “I need-he’s-urgh.” Kuroba only smirked wider as Shinichi flailed around, finally slamming his hands down on the table, nearly knocking over his coffee cup in the process. “It’s not like that.” He repeated, in a calmer tone. “Kid might have some... _information_ about a...group I’m trying to track down.” A raised eyebrow and sharp look of interest from his tablemate.

“Oh really?” The pen tapping turned into the beat of a pop song Shinichi vaguely recognized from having heard the previous morning on the radio. “What would a jewel thief have to do with a criminal group? Oh don’t give me that.” Kuroba stuck his tongue out at the look Shinichi was giving him. “I might not be a prodigy, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. Kid’s a criminal, you hunt down murderers, but he hasn’t murdered anyone. So if you think he has information on a group you’re hunting down, it’s because it’s a criminal group.” A beat. “That probably murdered someone. Am I wrong?” Well, when put like that, Shinichi looked like a jerk for underestimating Kuroba’s reasoning abilities. He shook his head.

“No, you’re not wrong, just keep it to yourself okay?” Kuroba rolled his eyes, and flicked the pen around in his hand.

“Who am I going to tell?” He muttered, more to himself then to Shinichi, so Shinichi ignored that.

“Besides, he’s not like that.” Kuroba looked confused.

“Who’s not like what…?” He trailed.

“Kid.” Shinichi said, a little exasperated. “Kid’s not like that.” It was, apparently, the wrong thing to say. Kuroba’s eyes narrowed a little, though his smile remained fixed on his face.

“And you’re the expert on what Kid’s like, huh?” The voice was mild but Shinichi could swear there was an underbite to the question.

“He’s modeled himself on being a gentleman thief.” Shinichi pointed out, he couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but it seemed like Kuroba wasn’t...happy with the direction of the conversation. He hadn’t stopped smiling, nothing had really changed outwardly about him, not even his tone of voice, but Shinichi still caught the feeling that he had accidently walked onto a minefield and quite possibly stepped squarely on a live one.

The tension broke when Kuroba’s eyes slid behind Shinichi to the cafe’s wall clock.

“Shit, I’m gonna be late.” He scrambled, stuffing his notebook, pen and textbooks into his bag and downing the last of his drink in a gulp. “Later.”

“Bye…?” That was an extremely ungraceful escape.

 

“Has Kuroba ever said anything about the Kaitou Kid to you?” Shinichi politely waited until Hakuba had finished hacking up a lung and the mouthful of tea he had been in the process of swallowing when Shinichi had sprung his question.

“What?” Hakuba managed to cough out, once he’d regained the power to breathe and speak, body still halfway hunched over.

“I asked if Kuroba had ever mentioned Kid to you.”

“Oh, right. I thought that was what you said.” Hakuba said in a weak tone. He straightened up with a last cough and in a stronger tone. “Yes actually, Kuroba is an _avid_ Kid fan. You could even say that he’s the number one Kid fan in the world.” Shinichi raised his eyebrows. Interesting that in all the time they’d spent together Kuroba had never once mentioned Kid of his own violation. Hardly the actions that Shinichi would fit to Kid’s Number One fan.“Why do you ask?”

“No reason, I mentioned Kid the other day and he didn’t.” Shinichi paused it was hard to put into words what had happened, since really, nothing had happened at all. “It didn’t go well.” Hakuba’s brow furrowed and his eyes took on a distant cast.

“In what way? Did you mention Kid, I mean.”

“He asked me why I was stressed, which was the heist the night before. He implied that if I asked ‘nicely’ Kid would ‘show me a good time’.” Shinichi had to pause again as Hakuba was caught in another coughing fit.

“Go-go on.” He gestured weakly once he’d gotten control of himself. Shinichi shrugged.

“I said that it wasn’t like that, that _Kid_ wasn’t like that and he…” Shinichi trailed off.

“Shut down?” Hakuba filled in for him. “Without actually seeming to shut down?”

“Yes. Exactly like that.” Hakuba sighed and leaned back in his seat.

“Congratulations, you’ve had your first encounter with the infamous Poker Face.” Hakuba took a sip of tea.

“Poker face…?” Hakuba sighed, setting down his now empty teacup.

“A word of advice Kudo.” He said, as he stood up to leave. “Never play poker or any card based game with Kuroba. You won’t win.” Shinichi felt even more confused by this conversation.

“Wait.” Hakuba paused in the act of pulling on his jacket. “Why did Kuroba react like he did? If he likes Kid.” Hakuba sighed again and finished yanking his arm through the jacket sleeve.

“Kudo, Kuroba is Kid’s _Number One_ fan and you are the detective who keeps getting the closest to catching his idol.” That did explain why Kuroba never brought Kid up in conversation himself. He was trying not to start a fight. And then Shinichi had implied(accidently) that _he_ knew Kid better. Better then Kid’s Number One fan.

“Oh.” Hakuba nodded.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Kuroba doesn’t hold grudges over something so small.” Which implied that Kuroba held grudges over other things. Shinichi ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“It wasn’t small to _him_.” Hakuba shrugged.

“For you, he’ll forgive a lot. He’ll forgive this.”

“How do you know that?” The sigh sounded like it had been ripped from the very depths of Hakuba’s suffering soul.

“To be perfectly frank, I’ve known Kuroba for a very long time. Longer then you have. He’s forgiven me for worst offenses and we just barely got along at first. There’s a reason he quite cheerfully calls me a bastard and a better reason that I let him. Believe me when I say, he’s forgiven your accidental transgression.” He fixed Shinichi with a _Look_. “Now I do have to go.”

 

“Hakuba told me you’re a Kid fan.” Kuroba stopped writing, peering up at Shinichi through his bangs.

“Did he now?” Shinichi wasn’t sure quite what was going on between Kuroba and Hakuba, the tone held polite interest, but once again Shinichi could detect a biting undercurrent and Kuroba’s eyes were sharp under his fringe of hair.

“Yes, he did. He basically said that you might as well be Kid’s number one fan.” Kuroba sat back up, full attention on Shinichi. “And I wanted to apologize if something I said last time offended you.”

“Hakuba’s not _wrong_.” Kuroba tapped his pen on the paper in front of him. Tiny speckles of black ink appearing on the page. “I _am_ a pretty big Kid fan. Gotta lotta...memorabilia, I suppose you could say.” Watching the small smile that appeared on Kuroba’s face, Shinichi got the feeling that he was missing something. “You don’t need to apologize. I tend to overreact about Kid.” Kuroba shrugged. “Water under the bridge.”

“How long have you been a Kid fan?” Shinichi asked, finger idly tracing the lip of his cup. It occurred to him the night before, that while Kuroba and he talked quite often, Kuroba had never really talked about himself except in the most abstract ways. Shinichi knew that he was an only child, with his mother as his only family member. He grew up in Ekoda. That he and Hakuba had been classmates together, that he had a childhood friend named Aoko and he was currently studying engineering with a minor in theater. And that was about all. Just the barest facts.

“I was...sixteen when I first heard about Kid.” Kuroba said, gaze going unfocused slightly. “I wanted to be a magician growing up and well, he was a magician too. So…” He grinned sheepishly at Shinichi. “He was pulling off tricks I’d only dreamed of. Ya know?” Shinichi nodded. “And my dad, well, he was a great magician, he died when I was little. Kid always kinda reminded me of him. Guess that’s why I’ve latched onto him so hard.”

“Oh.” Shinichi figured he should quit while he was ahead, or made himself feel like even more of a jerk.

 

_You told Kudo I was a Kid fan?_

_Why did you snap at him?_

_Thought he was on to me, over reacted._

_You offered to have sex with him if he asked nicely?_

_Let me have my fun._

_Then let me have mine._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shinichi knew he was too young to have a heart attack. But finding out the guy you shared a cafe table with for the past six months was the Kaitou Kid could help with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie. The best part of writing this fic was setting up all of Kaito's secret meaning dialogue. It's gonna keep Shinichi up _for months_ going through everything Kaito's ever said to him and also bashing his head against a wall over missing every. single. hint.

“Are you going to the Kid Heist?” Shinichi found himself asking Kuroba the next time the two were sharing a table. Kuroba shrugged, attention still mostly on the classwork in front of him.

“When they announce the time and place, yeah. Of course I am.” The notice had arrived three days previous. The paper Shinichi was reading had the notice displayed, though Shinichi himself had seen the original and had his own copy in his notebook. “Haven’t missed one yet!”

“You’ve been to all of them?” Shinichi was impressed. Some of Kid’s heists took place overseas after all. “I’ve never seen you at one before.”

“I wouldn’t be his number one fan, if I didn’t attend.” Kuroba said, smiling at Shinichi. “Hakuba’s even taken me along for one. Provided I, ya know, didn’t leave his side.” For some reason, Kuroba’s smile got wider at that. Though Shinichi supposed seeing a Heist so close to the action as it were, would be a treasured memory for any Kid fan, let alone the Number One fan. “But I think that was before you started going to them, I’m usually in the crowds at some point.”

“Huh, that would explain why I wouldn’t see you.” Shinichi mused, outside of being Conan, he didn’t really mix with the crowds at Kid Heists.

“Eh, you’ve probably seen me.” Kuroba said, there was a definite spark of amusement in his eyes. “You just might not have known it was me at the time, s’all.”

 

True, Shinichi supposed, it was very possible that he might have seen Kuroba in the background at a heist and just hadn’t taken much notice of him. Shinichi hadn’t taken much notice of Kuroba until the day the cafe had filled and the only free spot left was at corner table in the back that he was already sitting at.

It was a friendship that had a rather awkward start to say the least. But probably due to Kuroba never having heard of strangers, only friends he hadn’t met yet, their awkward meeting turned into a regular thing. And before Shinichi knew it, he was seeking out his friend’s messy hair the moment he walked in the door of the cafe.

 

“What’s your take on the Heist note?” Shinichi thought to ask, two days later. He’d solved it already but having a second opinion was always a plus.

“Sorry Kudo,” Kuroba looked anything but sorry. Scribbling out an answer to homework on a blank notepage, and grinning unrepentantly up at him. “I’m not very good at solving riddles. Too twisty for me.” Shinichi nodded, accepting that. He watched as Kuroba went back to his work.

“Do you want to go with me?” Shinichi blurted, fighting the urge to blush when Kuroba sat back to stare at him. “To the Heist,” He felt the need to clarify, even though it was definitely not needed. “You wouldn’t be able to stay with me the entire time, but we could walk there and back together.” Kuroba wrinkled his nose in thought.

“So you already solved the notice?” Shinichi grinned at him.

“I sent it into the Task Force before coming here.” Kuroba looked confused, nose still scrunched up, and brow furrowing as well.

“Then why ask me?” Shinichi shrugged.

“Second opinion never hurt.”

“Huh.” Kuroba’s face smoothed out. “Sure, I’ll walk with you.”

 

_Guess who’s got a date!_

_No. I refuse._

_That’s right. Me._

_I had assumed he’d have better taste._

_Stop being lonely and jealous._

_Stop being a menace to society._

_Never_

 

The following night found Shinichi facing down the Kaitou Kid on a rooftop. Kid had looked extremely amused about something ever since he had caught sight of Shinichi on the lower levels, a thread of laughter in the back of his throat affecting his speech, that wasn’t normally there. It was subtly driving Shinichi up the wall. What did Kid know that he didn’t? He opened to his mouth to demand what was so damn funny, when Hakuba announced his arrival.

“Kuroba, I think it’s time we called this game.” Hakuba said, hands in his pockets as he kicked the access door closed behind him. Kid, framed against the night sky in white, tilted his head toward the other detective. The request made no sense because Shinichi had separated from Kuroba at the outer checkpoint two hours ago. He would be out in the crowd, not here on the roof. “It has been...entertaining, but now it’s getting tedious.” Shinichi whirled around to double check, but nope. Hakuba, Kid and him were still the only people on the secluded rooftop. It was toward the end of the heist and Shinichi had hedged his bets by just camping on the rooftop. He hadn’t expected Hakuba to come out of left field, and cut Kid’s and his verbal spar off with that. He expected even less Kid’s response.

“You’re exactly zero fun as usual.”

And that.

That was Kuroba’s voice, his intonation and cadence. Coming out of Kid’s mouth. Hakuba hummed.

“Kudo requires your assistance. I believe it would make things easier for all if he was aware of your...moonlighting.” That surprised a bark of laughter out of Kid, he smiled fondly at Hakuba. Shinichi had never felt more out of his depth, Kid never did _anything_ fondly at or around Hakuba.

“I always knew you had a sense of humor. Buried deep, _deep_ in there.” Kid returned, but again, it wasn’t him, it was Kuroba.

“Perhaps you have been using the wrong methods to draw it out.” Hakuba’s tone was mild, as though he was holding a normal everyday conversation with an old friend. Which Shinichi realized, when Kid popped out his monocle, shoved back his top hat and Kuroba Kaito was standing in front of him, grinning his stupid grin, that wow, Shinichi really should have matched to Kid’s, was entirely true.

That was about the time Shinichi’s brain stuttered to a halt, and then slammed into overdrive, going over every conversation he’d had with Kuroba up until this moment. His arm shot out to jab a finger at Kid.

“You said you were the Number One Kid fan!” Slowly mounting horror was building on Shinichi. All the signs he’d missed or dismissed coming back to him. He already knew what the answer was before Kid opened his mouth.

“I _said_ Hakuba wasn’t wrong when he told you that. I never said he was right either.”

“You’d have to be a pretty big fan to emulate Kid.” Hakuba muttered. “And all throughout highschool that’s what you told everyone.”

“It made things easier at the time.” This did little to calm Shinichi down. In fact it did the exact opposite.

“You said you had a lot of Kid Memorabilia!” Shinichi screeched, arm slightly shaking now. Kuroba’s grin was wider then any one he’d ever had as Kid as he replaced the monocle and tilted the hat back into position.

“Tantei kun, I have _all_ the Kid memorabilia.” He swung the card gun around lazily on a finger. “You could even say I’m a very demanding collector because I only have the authentic stuff.”

“What about pulling off tricks you’d only dreamed of?!”

“I did dream of them. They had to start somewhere, and Kid pulled them off.” Hakuba just shrugged. Arms now folded over his chest. He looked distinctly unhappy with the proceedings.

“He just didn’t bother to tell you, he _was_ Kid.”

“You knew the entire time didn’t you?” Kid laughed as Shinichi’s ire switched targets along with his finger of accusation. Hakuba merely raised an eyebrow.

“I have known Kuroba since high school, we _were_ classmates.” He sniffed. “I must say I’m unimpressed with how long it took for you to come to the correct conclusion. Even with all the hints I kept giving you.”

“Cheater.” Kid grumbled good naturedly.

“Y _ou_ were giving him hints too.”

“Yeah, but it’s expected for me to cheat.” The words Kuroba had said to him the other day in the cafe came back with a vengeance: _“You’ve probably seen me,_ _you just might not have known it was me at the time, s’all.”_

With his new knowledge that translated to: _You **have** seen me, you didn’t know it was me because I’m Kid._

Shinchi covered his face with his hands.

“I am a complete _failure_ of a detective.” He moaned, voice muffled.

“Aw, don’t sell yourself short. I’m _so_ much better at concealing now then when I met Hakuba. Besides, I _know_ you tantei kun. It’s easier to hide when I know what someone will be looking for.” A thought had Shinichi’s head snapping up, one hand clutching at his bangs.

“Was it an act? The entire time, were you just _pretending_? _Who was I meeting for coffee?_ ” Kid waved his arms frantically, eyes wide behind the monocle.

“No, no. It’s not like that!” He said quickly. “Concealing and disguises are two different things. That was me, it was _all_ me. I just,” He shrugged. “Held back a little on my mannerisms, s’all. Things you’d be able to pick out, stuff like that.”

“Be grateful.” Hakuba’s voice was dry. “He hasn’t ever bothered to check himself around me.”

“Well, I just didn’t see the point, it would have been a lost cause.” Kid crossed his arms over his chest in a pout, his eyes locked on Shinichi though, face set with tiniest bits of worry. “It was me. Everytime. I promise.”

“Okay, okay I just.” Shinichi ran a hand down his face, mind whirling before latching onto the reason for all of this. “We need to talk.”

“So I heard.” Kid mused, back to being relaxed now that Shinichi wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown. “Many times, in fact. Everyone and their mom wants to tell me you need to talk to Kid.”

“The perils of having two identities.” Hakuba remarked, off handedly. “And one of those identities being _such_ a big fan of the other. Surely as both a magician and a fan, you _must_ have some way of getting word to the Kaitou Kid. Isn’t that how it works in comics?” He asked, the bite of sarcasm in his tone. Kid ignored him in favor of listing names.

“Aoko, Akako, _Hakuba_ , Miss Mori, her screechy friend, the little scientist friend of your’s, your dad, your mom, _my_ mom, _you_. Twice even.” Kid was ticking people off on his fingers. “Each of your Detective boys, _separately_ I might add, has come up to me over the last three weeks and asked if I had a way to get in touch with Kid, because _Shinichi niisan really has to talk to him, it’s important_.” Kid perfectly mimicked. It looked like he might have run out of people to name, until he snapped his fingers. “Oh, _and_ your bff from Osaka tried to take my head off at the Heist I held there last month, but he made sure to tell me you wanted to talk before he attempted to kill me _and_ his girlfriend managed to slip that to me as well. So _yes_ , mententai.” He finished, sounding thoroughly exasperated. “I know you want to chat with me.”

“Oh.” Shinichi still felt a little shell shocked, even more so with the litany of Shinichi’s friends that Kaito knew as both Kid and as himself. “Okay then.” There was a moment of awkward silence on the roof.

“Well?” Kid finally broke it, sounding a little impatient. Shinichi startled, he hadn’t realized that Kid was waiting for him to speak. “You wanted to ask me something and here we are.” A white gloved hand gestured at the three of them. “We’re on the clock you know.” It was a sharp reminder that Kid was _technically_ still in the middle of stealing a jewel. And had an entire task force running around looking for him.

“Right.” Shinichi coughed into his fist, gathering himself together. “Do you-” He began just as the roof access door slammed open for the task force. _You have **got** to be kidding._ Shinichi thought mournfully.

“Tch. Some other time then.” Kid clicked his tongue and tossed himself backwards over the edge in the blink of an eye. Gone, before Shinichi could finish his question.

“Well,” Hakuba said conversationally to Shinichi after weathering the long rant in the wake of Kid’s escape. “At least you know where to go from here.”

 

A day later, Shinichi dropped into the seat across from Kuroba at the cafe. Kuroba closed his notebook, meeting Shinichi’s stare head on.

“I’ve decided that it doesn’t matter.” Shinichi said, without preamble. “But if you hide, not disguise, _hide_ from me again, no amount of time will remove the imprint of my soccer ball from your face.” Kuroba laughed.

“Fair enough, mententai.” Shinichi slumped a little in his seat, hands curling around his coffee as Kuroba mused out loud. “It occurs to me, that we haven’t really been introduced. So.” Shinichi blinked and suddenly there was a rose in his face, seemingly pulled from thin air. “Kuroba Kaito, amuetur magician, university student and infiltration specialist extraordinaire, at your service.” Shinichi accepted the rose, twirling it between his fingers. The stem was thornless, the flower a pale pink. This must be one of those things he was ‘holding back on’.

“Kudo Shinichi, consulting detective, university student and trouble magnet.”

“Trouble magnet huh?” Shinichi matched Kaito’s smile.

“So they tell me.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you trouble magnet, Kudo Shinichi.”

“Pleasure’s all mine. Just call me Shinichi.”

“Likewise, it’s Kaito.” Kaito settled his chin in his open palm. “Now what’s this about some undesirable friends?”

“They’re more your friends then mine, really. I only know about them tangentially,” Shinichi’s smile went a little too wide, with a little too much in the way of teeth. “You could say they’re friends of some old friends of mine. I was hoping you’d be able to introduce us.” Kaito teeth flashed white.

“Of course, mententai.” He drawled. “Hakuba’s been _dying_ to meet my friends. But I’d hate to introduce him alone. The more the merrier, right?”

“That’s always been my feeling.”

 

A thought occurred to Shinichi as he stood up to leave, after quickly planning to meet at a more secure location to discuss details. A thought that had him punching Kaito in the shoulder.

“Ow!’ Kaito rubbed the area, turning a wounded look on Shinichi. “What was that for?!”

“You said you weren’t any good at riddles.” Shinichi hissed at him, Kaito looked startled for a moment and when he realized what Shinichi was talking about, grinned at him.

“I said I wasn’t any good at _solving_ riddles. I’m _amazing_ at crafting them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thought of almost everyone telling Kaito about Shinichi needing to talk to Kid is my favorite thing. At some point he just wants to shout 'I GET IT ALRIGHT?' But he can't because ~secret identity~  
> Yeah okay, I'm done now.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote one where Shinichi figured it out right away and then I realized how much fun I could have if he didn't.  
> Look at all those not actual lies Kaito tells.


End file.
